It's Time to Plant Onions

How do I know that it's time to plant onions? Onions from last year are growing. I accidentally turned over some onions while preparing the soil for this year's batch and found extensive roots on last year's onions. Also discovered were a few grub worms (June bug larvae) and some adventurous earthworms.

The garlic that we put in and mulched in the Fall are looking good. Nothing like fresh-squeezed garlic on your food.

Okay, here's a promise...I will not plant tomatoes or squash until after the last frost date on the calendar. I will not plant tomatoes or squash until after the last frost date on the calendar. I will not...

The Truth

A few thoughts about the truth.

We are doing a study, at home, over 2 John and 3 John. In the 27 verses that make up these letters, John uses the word truth 10 times. I thought, "This word truth is important in the writings of John!" Sherlock Holmes would have been impressed, I'm sure (cynicism intended!).

I thought to myself, "But truth is an abstract concept! How do I explain an abstract idea in concrete terms?"

I then turned my a attention to the gospel of John, wondering how Jesus used the word truth. I discovered several things:
1. In John 3:20-21, Jesus contrasts evil with truth. I generally think of good as being in opposition to evil. In the sames verses, He implicitly contrasts darkness with light. Jesus, of course, is the light that comes into the world. The world preferred darkness over light because they desire to do evil rather than obey the truth. The light, therefore, may be seen as the source from which truth emanates as evil originates from darkness.
2. Jesus unabashedly claims to be the truth (See: John 14:5-7). Ah-ha, this is the point whereby the abstract becomes concrete! Jesus is the truth, who has come from the Father. If you know the Son (the Truth) then you will consequently know the Father. He is the fleshing out of the ideal (truth).
3. Jesus, however, is currently not physically present in the world (He does live in our hearts through the Holy Spirit). How can I know that I am following the truth with Him gone to be with the Father. The answer is found in John 17:17-19..."sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17; KJV).

We have to start our understanding of "What is truth?" through an understanding that Jesus is the truth. We then have to understand that He speaks to us today through His Word (and the Holy Spirit, etc.).

If He intends for us to know the truth, be the pillar and ground of the truth, and spread the truth (light) to the world (darkness), would He have left us without a 'manual' of truth? I don't think so.

I was talking with Colin this morning about a statement his teacher made in his Old Testament class--that we could not "prove" the Creation story (don't judge his teacher, he is trying to get his students to think). I agree with this. I could only "prove" the Creation account by being physically present when it occurred. The only other way would be to have a reliable source who was there give an account of the events. Moses, who wrote Genesis, was not there...so, he cannot personally attest to the Creation events. Who was there? The Creator of Creation Himself is the only One who was there.

Whether you believe in Creation or in an impersonal beginning, you have to start with a basic presupposition: There is a God, there is not a God. If you begin with the concept of a God, then you should have no problem with the Creation account. If you begin with, "There is no God", then you certainly can't come to the point of a personal beginning for the universe.

For the Apostle John, this would have been easy to understand. Those who walk in the light believe the Word of God and, therefore, are able to walk in the truth. Those who walk in the darkness prefer their works of darkness and refuse to acknowledge the truth.

Let's hold to the idea of antithesis here: There is a light (truth) and a dark (evil). Those who follow Jesus are able to follow the truth and those who follw the dark cannot know the truth.

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18).

Looking Forward to the Kingdom

I am looking forward to the Kingdom. No more of the junk that we have to put up with right now. I missed one of my good friends (Stan) coming through town today because I was sick. I mean, really sick. I got some bug and was up until 5:30 this morning doing one of those things I won't miss in the Kingdom. I made three trips up to school to introduce classes to students and slept in between each course and solidly after I was finished for the day. Now I have a splitting headache. Not as bad as some people get, but another thing I won't miss in the future.

Heard from friends that we knew in Denver, John and Cheri, the other day. Hadn't really communicated with them in about twelve years. That's another thing that I'm looking forward to--reunion with old friends.

Our small local Body is having a reunion of old members in a couple of Sundays. You know, in the world we will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for Christ has over come the world. We hope to have more people attending than we have current members. It will be a time of dedicating ourselves to healing and service to the Lord. I don't think things will be this "messy" in the Kingdom.

Pray that you too are looking forward to the Kingdom.

I'm Back

Like the Terminator, I knew that I'd eventually be back.

Our small local Church went through a tough time at the end of last summer when we had to discipline one of our brothers. He had exhibited a pattern of attacking and destroying (or getting rid of) anyone whom he thought would hinder his plans. Laughingly, his destructive pattern of behavior was the main roadblock in his vision to running a mega-church.

His pattern included deceiving those around him and using his family as a means to end discussions of his behavior. Eventually, however, even his ardent supporters were attacked and realized the grossness of his sinful behavior. A decade of deceit and lies was uncovered and he was "disciplined" out of the Body, with the caveat that he could return as a member upon true repentance.

Several members left with him (the Body was not large...his behavior continually ran off wonderful Christians). One of them simply stuck his head and the sand and REFUSED to look at any of the supporting documentation for the discipline. Any real godly leader would have taken the time to examine the data and make an informed decision.

Discipline is always difficult, especially when you have to deal with a church leader. It reminded me that Jesus set the example by being a servant-leader. We had quite the opposite...one who wanted everyone to follow him without question.

How has the remaining Body responded to the discipline?

1. All of the women in the Body feel a sense of relief that he is gone. One of his patterns was to attack the man through his wife, using his (supposed) authority as a *church-leader*. Disobey him and you were disobeying the Lord.
2. Some of us have contacted former (disciplined) members to ask corporate and personal forgiveness in an attempt to reconcile with them. We met (out-of-town) with one former member who has not attended a church since his dismissal, about 3 1/2 years ago. He is still dealing with bitterness with the former church-leader and has issues trusting other church leaders.
3. We are in contact with many more former members and are going to corporately meet with a group of them in the near future to reconcile. We desire to have the bond of unity with believers in Jesus.
4. Our AWANA program started strong in the Fall and slowly grew. Many teenagers are coming and hearing the good news that Jesus came to save us from our sin (Thank goodness that we didn't listen to Mr. Head-in-the -Sand). The Lord is in the process of saving these children from a present life of misery as well as from eternal damnation.
5. There is a general feeling of freedom in Christ that we didn't have while he was around. There was a pervasive atmosphere that made you ask the question, "Am I the next to be attacked?"
6. The ministry is now being shared. People aren't being micro-managed. We feel comfortable inviting and receiving guests into the Fellowship.
7. Fellowship, evangelism, and other ministry is happening on a daily basis among the believers. We want all that we do to bring glory to the Lord.

It would be a gift from the Lord if the disciplined one would find true repentance and forgiveness from the Lord for his sinful behavior over the past decade. I would open my arms to gladly welcome his back into fellowship. Pray that the Holy Spirit will work in his heart and life to bring him anew to the Father.

"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26-27).

the 2nd greatest commandment

We pick up children in an old school bus to bring them to an AWANA program on Wednesday evenings. We do this because we believe what Jesus said about loving little children (and some that are not so little). Some of them are in difficult situations...but, children are extremely resilient.

Children in third-world countries often work long hours in horrible working conditions and receive almost nothing in return for their labor. I have heard this reply many times when describing their situations: "They are better off than they would be if they didn't have any work at all!"

Now, I wish that all of our AWANA children were in loving two-parent, Christian homes, where they would be nurtured in the admonition of the Lord. It's not happening and I can't make it happen. However, I can show them the love of Christ during the time that I spend with them.

How about those children in third world countries? Is my best hope for them that they can work 12-14 hour days in awful conditions, so that they can be better off than they would be otherwise? Who benefits from their "slave" labor? We do! I do! I can buy cheap products at places like Walmart and have a higher standard of living when they work for practically nothing. And I can echo the Big Lie, "At least they are better off than they would be if they didn't have any work at all!"

I would never wish those sorts of conditions for MY children or for MY grandchildren (if I ever have any). When I wish that third-world children would be better off, why don't I wish for them to be as well off as my children are? Or, at least to be as well off as our AWANA children are. The problem is, if they get better conditions, then I will have to pay higher prices for products...I might have to skip a meal at Prima Pasta this month.

Jesus, when speaking of the greatest commandment said this, Mat 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Freedom in Ministry

It's a blessing when you feel the freedom to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. We have had a situation at our local church where one person significantly stifled the creativity and freedom that we have in Christ to serve Him. That one person insisted that he had the only vision for the church, that he was the only mouth-piece for the church, that all ideas had to go through him. Everything that didn't fit his agenda/vision was effectively squashed. If you questioned his right to rule then you were silenced. There had been an atmosphere of fear, wondering if you were going to be the next one out the door.

With that person gone, we are feeling a freedom to worship and serve the Lord in spirit and in truth.

Last night, we had 26 children show up at AWANA. I thought it possible that we would have five to ten show up because of the difficulty that we had trying to contact the children. I couldn't contact the majority of our club because their phones had been "disconnected or were no longer in service". Still, through prayer, the Lord brought 26 children and more than enough leaders and listeners to articulate the gospel message. I spent a portion of last night and this morning praising the Lord in my heart because the work of ministry is His. Yes, He works through us, but He gets the glory because it clearly is His ministry.

The Big Lie

How do you know when a government official is lying? When he/she opens their mouth.

This "crap" they are giving us about rescuing the economy is nothing but a big lie. It is another way for them to continue their policy of turning the US into a socialist country. They use the big lie method of putting fear into the sheep and then promise to take care of the poor sheep by fleecing them for their own good.

They continue to create the crisis, then they tell us how bad it is, then they take over more and more of the economy to protect us. Don't you recognize their methodology. They supported Suddam Hussein until the day before George H. Bush invaded. All of his (real) evil made no difference to the new world order folks until they wanted to put fear in the sheep. Same thing is happened with the economy. They tell the sheep that they can spend their way to prosperity, lowering the interest rates at the Fed so that more will join in the festivities. Then, when they have their crisis, they come in for the rescue, removing more and more of our freedoms.

Open your eyes!